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Lot Essay
The Goût Grec
These extraordinary torcheres of monumental proportion embody the austere, architectural style of the first wave of neo-classicism of the 1760's known as the goût grec. The first experimental items of furniture in the goût grec were conceived and produced as early as around 1754-1756 with the celebrated bureau plat executed for the connoisseur Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully, probably by Joseph Baumhauer (d. 1772) and Philippe Caffiéri (1714-1774) to the designs of Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain (1714-1759), now in the Musée Condé at Chantilly.
Prieur and Delafosse
The new designs of the goût grec were largely disseminated by influential designers and ornemanistes such as Jean-Charles Delafosse (1734-1791) and Jean-Louis Prieur (1732-1795) through several editions of engraved plates from the late 1760s.
Prieur, who became maître sculpteur in 1765 and maître-fondeur en terre et sable in 1769, was an influential ornemaniste in the new classical style. He is perhaps best known for a series of drawings he supplied for the execution of furniture and gilt-bronzes for the Polish Court at Warsaw in 1766, one of the most important neo-classical commissions of the time.
The four torcheres immediately call to mind smaller models executed in ormolu. A design for a similar candle stand attributed to Prieur, which may have provided inspiration for the present set of four, is illustrated in Svend Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London 1974, pl. 403.
While designs by Prieur were in many cases proposals submitted for a specific intent within a defined commission, Delafosse's ornamental designs were widely circulated throughout Europe through the Nouvelle Iconologie Historique, first published in 1767. His engravings provided a compendious range of objects in the 'pure Grecian taste.’ These goût grec torcheres are closely related to the pattern published in Delafosse's Nouvelle Iconologie Historique, 1770, vol. I, pl. 75, which was republished by J.F. Chervau Fils.
Arturo-Lopez Willshaw
These torcheres were part of the celebrated collection formed by the Chilean-born aesthete and mécène Arturo Lopez-Willshaw (1901-1962). He inherited a vast family fortune and settled in Paris in the inter-war years, eventually acquiring in 1928 the hôtel Rodocanichi in Neuilly on the outskirts of Paris, which had been built in 1903 by the architect Paul Rodocanachi and was inspired by the designs of 18th century hôtels particuliers. Lopez-Willshaw, along with his equally celebrated and lifelong friend Alexis de Redé, was passionate about the arts of 18th century France and was one of the greatest supporters of Versailles of his era, including notably his financing of the refurbishment of the Chambre du Roi. His hôtel in Neuilly was filled with treasures and came to be known as a ‘petit Versailles’- it even included a ballroom entirely covered in shells, inspired by the famous coquillage at Rambouillet which he had helped to restore. He was particularly drawn to seat furniture from the early, avant garde phase of neo-classicism from the 1760’s, including examples of the celebrated mobilier supplied by Delanois to Madame du Barry and a suite of seat furniture supplied to King Stanislaus August of Poland. The extraordinary and bold goût grec design of these torcheres therefore made them a natural fit for this remarkable collector.
These extraordinary torcheres of monumental proportion embody the austere, architectural style of the first wave of neo-classicism of the 1760's known as the goût grec. The first experimental items of furniture in the goût grec were conceived and produced as early as around 1754-1756 with the celebrated bureau plat executed for the connoisseur Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully, probably by Joseph Baumhauer (d. 1772) and Philippe Caffiéri (1714-1774) to the designs of Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain (1714-1759), now in the Musée Condé at Chantilly.
Prieur and Delafosse
The new designs of the goût grec were largely disseminated by influential designers and ornemanistes such as Jean-Charles Delafosse (1734-1791) and Jean-Louis Prieur (1732-1795) through several editions of engraved plates from the late 1760s.
Prieur, who became maître sculpteur in 1765 and maître-fondeur en terre et sable in 1769, was an influential ornemaniste in the new classical style. He is perhaps best known for a series of drawings he supplied for the execution of furniture and gilt-bronzes for the Polish Court at Warsaw in 1766, one of the most important neo-classical commissions of the time.
The four torcheres immediately call to mind smaller models executed in ormolu. A design for a similar candle stand attributed to Prieur, which may have provided inspiration for the present set of four, is illustrated in Svend Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London 1974, pl. 403.
While designs by Prieur were in many cases proposals submitted for a specific intent within a defined commission, Delafosse's ornamental designs were widely circulated throughout Europe through the Nouvelle Iconologie Historique, first published in 1767. His engravings provided a compendious range of objects in the 'pure Grecian taste.’ These goût grec torcheres are closely related to the pattern published in Delafosse's Nouvelle Iconologie Historique, 1770, vol. I, pl. 75, which was republished by J.F. Chervau Fils.
Arturo-Lopez Willshaw
These torcheres were part of the celebrated collection formed by the Chilean-born aesthete and mécène Arturo Lopez-Willshaw (1901-1962). He inherited a vast family fortune and settled in Paris in the inter-war years, eventually acquiring in 1928 the hôtel Rodocanichi in Neuilly on the outskirts of Paris, which had been built in 1903 by the architect Paul Rodocanachi and was inspired by the designs of 18th century hôtels particuliers. Lopez-Willshaw, along with his equally celebrated and lifelong friend Alexis de Redé, was passionate about the arts of 18th century France and was one of the greatest supporters of Versailles of his era, including notably his financing of the refurbishment of the Chambre du Roi. His hôtel in Neuilly was filled with treasures and came to be known as a ‘petit Versailles’- it even included a ballroom entirely covered in shells, inspired by the famous coquillage at Rambouillet which he had helped to restore. He was particularly drawn to seat furniture from the early, avant garde phase of neo-classicism from the 1760’s, including examples of the celebrated mobilier supplied by Delanois to Madame du Barry and a suite of seat furniture supplied to King Stanislaus August of Poland. The extraordinary and bold goût grec design of these torcheres therefore made them a natural fit for this remarkable collector.